2013 CAAMFest San Jose

In March, during the 2013 CAAMFest, festival programmer Masashi Niwano mentioned CAAM would have San Jose screenings later in the year.  This year's CAAMFest (formerly San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival) did not have any screenings in San Jose which they have had every year I have gone.  I forgot about it until receiving an email from CAAM announcing CAAMFest San Jose from August 16 to 18 at the Camera 3.

Although there were 11 films on the program, I couldn't spare the time to spend all weekend in San Jose.  I only watched two of the eleven.

Go Grandriders; documentary; directed by Tian-Hao Hua; Mandarin & Taiwanese with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website
Best Friends Forever starring Brea Grant & Vera Miao; directed by Brea Grant; (2013) - Official Website

Go Grandriders was extremely well attended.  After the screening, it was announced that the Grandriders were riding from San Jose to Los Angeles with a local motorcycle club.  Several of the people in attendance were affiliated with the motorcycle club.

Grandriders is about a group of senior citizens who ride motorcycles or mopeds around the perimeter of Taiwan.  The ride was organized by a senior citizens organization and appeared to have government blessing since they frequently had police escorts.  The whole felt partially like a tourism board product combined with some elder care infomercial.

The group of riders, collectively known as the grandriders, were certainly entertaining.  However, the film really didn't delve too much into their lives.  There were obligatory vignettes into the major participants but I really didn't get a sense of who these people were.  They were, without exception, upbeat and spirited.  Even when the team captain falls ill or another member has a road accident, the film rarely stayed far from the buoyant mood exhibited throughout.

After the film, the grandriders entered the theater to great applause and high fives from the audience.  Through an interpreter, they answered questions from a greatly appreciative audience.

Go Grandriders was a lightweight and lighthearted film.  That's not necessarily a criticism although my tastes in films tend towards darker or raunchier films.

After getting a latte at Psycho Donuts, I looked for someone to take my ticket at the theater entrance.  No one was there so I peaked my head in and saw Niwano introducing the film to a near empty theater.  I entered as he was walking off stage.  No one ever did take my ticket.

Best Friends Forever is a hybrid film - gal pal road movie cum post-apocalyptic nightmare.  All that was missing were the zombies.  Screenwriters Brea Grant & Vera Miao also starred as Harriet and Reba.  Grant was also the director.  Harriet and Reba are best friends who are drifting apart.  Harriet is moving from LA to Austin for grad school or maybe to become a librarian.  I recall which.  She has just gotten out of psychiatric hospital.  She talks Reba into taking the road trip with her and the isolation in the car on the long highways serve to reopen old resentments between.

Just when you think this is going to be one of "those movies" you see a mushroom cloud appear behind them.  They don't see it.  What Harriet & Reba don't realize is that Los Angeles has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb.  That's quite a plot twist and I wondered where they were going to take it.  The two women meet up with a trio of hipsters who carjack them.  Still unaware of the catastrophe, they have more adventures before recovering their stolen car from the hipster (Reba running one over in the process).  By this point, Harriet has learned about the explosion but doesn't tell Reba since her mother is likely dead from the blast as is most of the resident of the Southland.

Eventually, the pair show up at Harriet's sister's house where there is a weird end-of-the-world party going on.  At this point, Reba discovers the fate of LA and strangely angry at Harriet.  By that point, the film had meandered too far off the reservation for me to be fully engaged.  They both leave the party on foot despite there being a curfew and martial law.  If I recall correctly, Reba is nearly gang raped by cops before Harriet saves her; getting shot in the process.  They take refuge in the library Harriet was going to work in (oh I forgot to mention Harriet didn't actually get accepted to the grad school so the whole trip was a ruse).  At the end of the film, they emerge from the library looking like a post-apocalyptic, post-feminist ass-kicking duo which is only reinforced as their images morph into comic book art.

As you can read, this film was a pastiche many different genres.  It never quite found its footing in my opinion.  I think it was too ambitious for its budget and screenplay.  At its heart, as the countdown intertitles point the audience to, is a female friendship put to the test.  If they stripped away the nuclear bomb, I thought the film had the possibility of being a solid buddy film without a Y chromosome for miles.  Both of the lead actresses have that quirky, indie film vibe though and I give them credit for trying something different.  I'd be interested in seeing both of them in future projects or even checking some of their previous work.

When it was all said and done, the trip to San Jose was not quite satisfying.  I hope the attendance at Best Friends Forever was the exception and not the norm.  CAAMFest San Jose had a slapdash feel to it and it wasn't well advertised.  I hope it continues and thrives.  It's nice to have screenings by them in the summer.

The Vagaries of the Kabuki's Admission Prices

In keeping with the renewed focus, CAAMFest seemed to screen fewer films than past years.  At times, I was hard pressed to find a screening I really wanted to see.  I left some gaps in my schedule but can only think of two films I regret missing - Seeking Asian Female and Postcards from the Zoo.  SAF will be airing on PBS' Independent Lens on May 6.

With long stretches of downtime, I squeezed in three non-CAAMFest films during the run of that festival.

Stoker starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman & Matthew Goode; directed by Chan-wook Park; (2013) - Official Website
Strange Days starring Ralph Fiennes & Angela Bassett; with Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore & Vincent D'Onofrio; directed by Kathryn Bigelow; (1995)
Hitler's Children; documentary; directed by Chanoch Zeevi; German, Hebrew & English with subtitles; (2011) - Official Website

I saw Stoker at the Sundance Kabuki, Strange Days at the Castro and Hitler's Children at the YBCA.

Strange Days was the third film of a Midnites for Maniacs triple bill.  The other two films were Rocky III and Luc Besson's The Professional.  In hindsight, I wish I would have also seen The Professional on the Castro screen as opposed to Nice Girls Crew 2 at CAAMFest.

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I can only recall having seen two films at the Sundance Kabuki which weren't film festival screenings.  Buying tickets through the film festivals' websites saved me the puzzling ordeal of deciphering the Kabuki's amenity fee chart.

My memory is hazy but I recall Sundance closed the Kabuki for an extended period and when it reopened, they instituted the assigned seating and amenity fee policies.  Assigned seating seems a little pretentious for a movie theater although some of my co-workers like it.  The assigned seating doesn't get my goat...the dreaded amenity fees do.  The Sundance Kabuki's admission price and amenity fee tables are a thing of beauty unless you are one paying them.  

In the Kabuki management's own words,

Why We Have an Amenity Fee

NO ON SCREEN ADVERTISING.  No annoying television ads before the movies, a huge revenue source for all other theatre chains. 

RESERVED SEATING.  All of our seats are reserved for all shows. No waiting in line or running to get a good seat. Sit with your friends. Select your seats and print tickets at home on-line, or come to the theatre and select your seats at the box office or a kiosk. 

 ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY.  In an industry that notoriously ignores "green" ideas, we try to be an evolving conscientious citizen with our extensive building remodel and in our daily practices. 

SUPPORT FOR LOCAL ARTISTS.   Sundance Cinemas supports local artists in keeping with the philosophy of Robert Redford. 

So the amenity fee covers the lost revenue from those ads and previews before films, covers the cost of software & hardware allowing for reserved seating, covers added costs of being green and goes to support local artists.  I'm cynical but I'll accept those words at face value.

What I don't understand is why the fee is semi-hidden.  The posted admission price was $11.50 but they charged me $13.50 and to make it more confusing the receipt was in the amount of $11.50.  I had an inkling the difference was the amenity fee so I didn't challenge the discrepancy with the cashier.  

Also the sheer number of pricing combinations is amazing.  By my estimation, there are about a dozen different prices (admission price + amenity fee) I would be charged depending on the day and time of the film screening I attend.  When you take into account that Seniors and Children have different admission prices and that there are different admission prices for 3D films, there must be 50 or more pricing combinations.  Changing their prices must be a major software update.

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Stoker was directed by Chan-wook Park, the South Korean director of Oldboy, Lady Vengeance and more.  As far as I am aware, Stoker is Park's first English language film.  I remembered stars Mia Wasikowska from That Evening Sun and Matthew Goode from Burning Man.  Curious to see what these actors (plus Nicole Kidman) could do under the helm of Park, I snuck away from CAAMFest long enough to view Stoker.  The title of the film refers to the surname of the family involved - teenager India Stoker (Wasikowska), her mother Evelyn (Kidman) and her paternal uncle Charlie (Goode).  India's father, Evelyn's husband and Charlie's older brother, Richard (Dermot Mulroney) has just passed away.  Long travelling around the world, Charlie returns home for Richard's funeral and promptly begins a cozy relationship with Evelyn who doesn't seem to be grieving much for her husband.

Stoker could also refer to Charlie whose appearance stokes passion in Evelyn and trepidation but eventually passion in India also. It could also refer to Bram Stoker, author of Dracula although vampires are not present in the film.  It's actually India's bloodlust which is really being stoked.

India is a little suspicious of her uncle whom her parents have never told of her about.  She is odd teenager on the verge of womanhood.  However, Kidman is already there and stakes a claim on the handsome Charlie. The sets off a twisted love triangle between mother, daughter & uncle.  Although Evelyn comes off as a cold bitch, she is the most well adjusted of the three.

Stoker picks up steam as India becomes more sexually curious and her passions commingle and converge with Charlie's secret.  I won't give away the secret but let's just say Charlie hasn't been globetrotting.  With some memorable cinematography (a scene where a spray of blood splashes against green grass is memorable), stylish sets and and great performances out of the lead three, Stoker never gets under you skin.  Instead you watch the fevered film with a rapt admiration for Park and the actor's skills.

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Strange Days is a film I don't recall.  However, for the past year (at least), Jesse Hawthorne Ficks has been showing the trailer for the film at his periodic Midnites for Maniacs screenings.  It looked cool and has an impressive pedigree.  Kathryn Bigelow directed and James Cameron wrote the film.  Ralph Fiennes, two years after Schindler's List and one year before The English Patient is the lead actor.  Angela Bassett, two years removed from What's Love Got to Do With It, is the female lead.  Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore and Vincent D'Onofrio costar in the film.

The premise of Strange Days is a device called a SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device).  The SQUID device attaches to one's head and records the memories of the wearer.  The recording can be played back for another person.  Of course, if the user is doing something boring while wearing the device, his memories aren't worth much.  However, if s/he is doing something intense (like robbing a Chinese food restaurant or having sex), the memories are worth more.  SQUIDs are military devices and bootleg copies are illegal so you have to go to a black marketer like ex-LAPD cop Lenny Nero (Fiennes).

The film is set in the final days of 1999 (no mention of Y2K).  LA is a dystopian society which seems under siege.  Wealthy people hire bodyguards.  Lenny's friend Mace (Bassett) is one such bodyguard.  She disapproves of Lenny's SQUID dealing but forgives him because she has feelings of unrequited love towards him.  Lenny still has feelings for his ex (Juliette Lewis).

This synopsis is getting long.  There are two inspired scenes in the film.  In one scene, a rapist/murderer wears a SQUID device during an attack.  In a moment of true perversity, the attacker connects a second SQUID device to his own and puts the 2nd SQUID on the victim.  As the blindfolded victim is being attacked, she can "see" the attack from her assailant's point of view.

The second impressive scene is a massive crowd scene (I think this was pre-CGI).  A crowd is gathered for New Year's Eve and two dirty cops (D'Onofrio and William Fichtner) are chasing Mace in the crowd.  As they attack her, it starts a riot which is quite the spectacle.

Although the technology is hit and miss when compared to where we are at today, Bigelow's direction is exceptional.  I have noticed that she is able to ratchet up and sustain tension at fevered levels in The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty.  She does that again or more accurately, she did it before in Strange Days.

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Hitler's Children is a documentary about the children, grandchildren, nieces & nephews of high ranking Nazi Party members.  Descendant's of Goering, Himmler and others appear on camera.  Although the premise sounded interesting, it appears that most of the subject are fairly well adjusted so there wasn't a lot of fertile ground to cover.  In all cases except one, the subject did not know or barely remembered their Nazi progenitor.  The exception was Niklas Frank, youngest child of Hans Frank, Governor-General of Poland.  The younger Frank was six years old when WWII ended and seven when his father was executed; old enough to recall the man who name is infamous.  Niklas largely repudiates his father's actions which seems like the only sensible thing to do when your father is a high-ranking Nazi.  Still, he recalls paternal moments with the man which humanizes both father & son.

Hermann Goering's daughter lives in New Mexico (near Santa Fe) and bears a strong resemblance.  I think Himmler kids chose to be sterilized and someone's descendants changed their name.

I'm light on details because I didn't learn much new from the film and it was a bit of a slog to get through.  The concept was more interesting than the execution of the film.

2013 CAAMFest

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival has rebranded itself as CAAMFest.  What is behind the renaming?  It seems they want to expand the scope of the festival.  "Film. Music. Food" is their new tagline.  CAAM stands for the Center for Asian American Media.  I doubt the typical festival attendee is aware of that acronym.

As I mentioned before, CAAMFest rescheduled itself so as not to conflict with the final weekend of Cinequest.  In addition, CAAMFest dropped San Jose from the lineup.  Typically, the final 3 or 4 days of the festival were held at Camera Cinemas in San Jose.  There were no San Jose screenings this year.  Festival director Masashi Niwano mentioned they were going to have screenings in San Jose later in the year but did not say anything more specific.

I saw 18 programs - one at the Castro, three at the Great Star, six at the Viz and eight at the Kabuki.  The 2013 CAAMFest marked the first time I had been in the Great Star Theater on Jackson St.

The Cheer Ambassadors; documentary; directed by Luke Cassady-Dorion; Thai & English with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website
Graceland starring Arnold Reyes; directed by Ron Morales; Tagalog with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website
High Tech, Low Life; documentary; directed by Stephen Maing; Mandarin with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website
The Land of Hope starring Isao Natsuyagi, Naoko Ohtani, Jun Murakami & Megumi Kagurazaka; directed by Sion Sono; Japanese with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website
When Night Falls starring Nai An; directed by Ying Liang; Mandarin with subtitles; (2012)
Sunset Stories starring Monique Gabriela Curnen & Sung Kang; directed by Ernesto Foronda & Silas Howard; (2012) - Official Website
Abigail Harm starring Amanda Plummer & Tetsuo Kuramochi; with Will Patton & Burt Young; directed by Lee Issac Chung; (2012) - Official Website
Dead Dad starring Kyle Arrington, Jenni Melear & Lucas Kwan Peterson; directed by Ken J. Adachi; (2012) - Official Website
Jiseul starring Sung Min-chul & Yang Jung-Won; directed by Muel O.; Korean with subtitles; (2012) - Official Facebook
15 starring Melvin Chen, Erick Chun & Melvin Lee; directed by Royston Tan; Hokkien & Mandarin with subtitles; (2003) - Official Website
When the Bough Breaks; documentary; directed by Ji Dan; Mandarin with subtitles; (2011)
Nice Girls Crew 2 starring Lynn Chen, Michelle Krusiec & Sheetal Sheth; directed by Tanuj Chopra; (2013) - Official Facebook
Beijing Flickers starring Duan Bowen, Li Xinyun & Shi Shi; directed by Zhang Yuan; Mandarin with subtitles; (2012)
Someone I Used to Know starring West Liang, Brian Yang & Eddie Mui; directed by Nadine Truong; (2012) - Official Website
Comrade Kim Goes Flying starring Han Jong Sim; directed by Kim Gwang Hun, Nicholas Bonner & Anja Daelemans; Korean with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website
Xmas Without China; documentary; directed by Alicia Dwyer & Tom Xia; English & Mandarin with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website

Beijing Flickers was preceded by Shanghai Strangers.

Shanghai Strangers starring Yiyan Jiang; directed by Joan Chen; Mandarin with subtitles; (2012)

A program titled Beautiful 2012 consisted of three short films.

You Are More Than Beautiful starring Gong Hyo-jin & Lee Kang-Sheng; directed by Kim Tae-yong; Korean with subtitles; (2012)
Walker starring Yan Lianke; directed by Tsai Ming-Liang; (2012)
My Way starring Francis Ng; directed by Ann Hui; Cantonese with subtitles; (2012)

I saw one short films program titled A Wrench in the Works which consisted of:

The Anti-Versary starring Colin Foo, Greg Chan, Jasmine Dring & Phillip Tsui; directed by Aaron Au; Cantonese & English with subtitles; 6 minutes; (2011)
Banzai Rising; documentary; directed by Pedro Gomez; Mandarin & English with subtitles; 15 minutes; (2013)
Born to Dance This Way starring Russell Argenal; directed by Jerell Rosales; 12 minutes; (2012) - Official Website
Dawn starring Scott Manuel Johnson, Warren Burke & Jeff Manabat; directed by Leon Le; 11 minutes; (2012)
Footsteps starring Jinho Kim, Taek-Hyeon Jeong, Ji-sung Kim & Suk-Joon Hyun; directed by Thomas Hyungkyun Kim; Korean with subtitles; 23 minutes; (2012)
Little Mao starring Kevin Wang; directed by Allen Tong; 7 minutes; (2012)
Shaya starring Laikh Tewari; directed by Amir Noorani; Urdu & English with subtitles; 18 minutes; (2013) - Official Website

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My favorite film of the festival was Graceland, a US/Filipino film, which is being released by Drafthouse Films.  According to the film's official website, it will play at the Roxie from April 26 to May 1.  Graceland reminded me of a film I saw at YBCA a couple years ago called Kinatay by the prolific Filipino director Brillante Mendoza.

Graceland features Arnold Reyes as Marlon, the driver to Changho (Menggie Cobarrubias) a pedophile politician.  Part of his duties include paying off the girls and driving them home.  It takes a heavy toll on Marlon but no more than the health of his wife who is in need of an organ transplant.  Marlon & Chango's daughters have become friends despite objections.  While driving the two girls home, Marlon is stopped by a police officer who kills the Changho girl and kidnaps Marlon's daughter. The two girls had switched school uniforms earlier in the day.  The Changho receive a ransom demand for their daughter but are unaware that the girl being held is Marlon's daughter.

This leads to a tense situation where Marlon must navigate between the kidnappers, the police & Changho.  Director Ron Morales skillfully navigates the plot while showing the desperation of Marlon's situation and Changho's corruption.  Dido De La Paz as the tough cop suspicious of Marlon, Leon Miguel as the vicious kidnapper and Ella Guevara as Marlon's daughter round out a strong cast.  Violence against children, depictions of slums and disturbing scene involving a child prostitute elevate Graceland to the grittiest of crime dramas.

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With The Land of Hope, I have now seen three Sion Sono films.  The other two films being Love Exposure and Cold Fish.  Sono does not seem to edit his films to achieve a certain length.  Love Exposure was nearly 4 hours, Cold Fish almost 2.5 hours and The Land of Hope clocked in at 2 hours, 15 minutes.  I am beginning to see  that Sono can keep the audience's interest for extended periods.

Set in Japan in the near future with the aftermath of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster mentioned multiple times throughout the film, The Land of Hope repeats a nuclear reactor leak with the focus on one family.  The Ono family are dairy farmers.  Yasuhiko (Isao Natsuyagi) is the patriarch.  Chieko (Naoko Ohtani) is his wife whose dementia or senility progresses throughout the film.  Their son Yoichi (Jun Murakami) and his wife Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka) live with his parents and work on the farm.

When the nuclear reactor accident occurs, a 50 KM evacuation radius is established.  The boundary happens to fall between the Ono's farm and the rest of the town with the Ono's outside the evacuation zone.  Barricades are set up and the Onos find themselves isolated as everyone else evacuates.  The absurdity of the situation is apparent to all.

Yasuhiko urges his son and daughter-in-law to evacuate while he and his wife will stay.  Throughout the film, he stubbornly refuses to leave his home.  Reluctantly, the younger couple agree to leave on a temporary basis.  This sets up dual story lines as Yoichi and Izumi's temporary relocation appears to be permanent and Yasuhiko clings to his farm while his wife's condition worsens.  I'm not sure if The Land of Hope is a comedy with dramatic moments or a drama with comedic moments.

The four lead actors are excellent with Ohtani having the juciest role given her character's erratic behavior.  Izumi becomes obsessed with nuclear radiation and begins constantly wearing a full hazmat suit.  Chieko thinks she is young girl and dances in a kimono with the blighted and abandoned townscape behind her.  Sono has an eye for visually memorable scenes.  Unlike his other two films that I have seen, there are no religious cults, perverts and yakuza gangsters in Sono's latest offering.  The absurdity in The Land of Hope is rooted in the reality the Japanese government's response to Fukushima and the lingering psychological and societal responses to a nuclear disaster.  Funny, thought provoking and emotionally touching, The Land of Hope is a tremendous film.

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Speaking of long films, When the Bough Breaks is a 2.5 hour Chinese documentary.  However, it kept my attention throughout.  The film follows a real family who live in a shanty in what appears to be a Beijing junkyard.  The father could very well be mentally unstable.  The two daughters, Xia & Ling, and a son, Gang, go to school on a scholarship or exemptions of sorts.  They don't have Beijing residency permits so are not allowed to go to public school.  I didn't the full details of their schooling but the daughters (particularly Xia) want desperately to educate themselves to live a better life.  The son is more lackadaisical about his studies.

As their enrollment becomes threatened, the two girls put all their efforts (and dreams) into Gang's education to both Gang & their father's disapproval.  Gang doesn't want to be the receptacle of all his sisters' hopes & dream.  He predicts they will come to resent him.  The father doesn't seem to concerned about his children's education and would prefer them all to live in the junkyard.  The film culminates in a tense & explosive New Year's Eve celebration in which acrimonious words are exchanged.

Inspiring, intense, raw, heartbreaking & infuriating are some words which come to mind when describing the film.  One of the CAAMFest programmers read a note from the director who mentioned her original intent was to document the fate of the third and eldest daughter who has gone missing and likely sold into sexual slavery.  Her absence and missing status casts a pall over the family even if it is only mentioned in passing.  Although a documentary, there is enough narrative lines to be worthy of Dickens novel.  The drunken father's self-delusions makes him and his family miserable.  The kindly benefactor offers to pay for the girls schooling except he wants to have sex with them.  The grinding poverty is destroying the family.  When the Bough Breaks is one of the most powerful documentaries I have seen in a long time.

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Graceland, The Land of Hope & When the Bough Breaks are the only films from the festival I can enthusiastically recommend.  There were a number of other films which, while enjoyable, did not rise to the level those three films.

The Cheer Ambassadors - light hearted documentary about the Bangkok University cheerleading squad and their preparation for the 2011 World Cheerleading Championships.

Sunset Stories - Monique Gabriela Curnen is a Boston nurse visiting LA, her hometown, to courier a cooler with an organ transplant.  The cooler is stolen and she enlist her ex-boyfriend (Sung Kang) to help her get it back.  The two travel through LA and encounter many different people as they track down the cooler.  Nice ensemble cast.

Dead Dad - three estranged siblings gather for the funeral of their father.  The reunion and mourning bring up family tensions.  It's a modest film that exceeded my expectations.

15 - the 2013 CAAMFest had a 3 film Royston Tan retrospective.  I had seen Tan's 881 a few years ago so I was interested in seeming more.  My expectations were high since Tan was called the "bad boy of Singporean cinema" in the festival guide.  15 featured teenage nonactors playing, presumably, exaggerated versions of themselves.  It reminded me of low-budget, juvenile delinquent version of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Beijing Flickers - some down and out young people in Beijing from a friendship they navigate through life.  Han Wenwen turns in a nice performance as the band singer who is kicked out of the band when they get a recording contract.

Comrade Kim Goes Flying - I could not have imagined a film about a North Korean coal miner dreaming of being a trapeze artist would have been so enjoyable.  Han Jong Sim is appealing as the winsome heroine of the film.  Pyongyang never looked so beautiful.

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I had much better luck with the short films.

Beautiful 2012, a Hong Kong International Film Festival production, consisted of three short films; each one approximately 30 minutes.

You Are More Than Beautiful was my favorite short film of the festival.  A man hires an actress (was she a porn actress?) to pretend to be his wife for his dying father's benefit.  It turns out the man is comatose when she arrives but she continues to pretend in case he can still understand.  The film is funny & touching with nice performances from the two lead actors (Gong Hyo-jin & Lee Kang-Sheng).

Ann Hui's My Way gives a complex portrait of a man (Francis Ng) about to undergo a sex change operation.

Tsai Ming-Liang's Walker features a monk navigating Hong Kong at a glacial pace.  It put me to sleep after 10 minutes.

A Wrench in the Works had two outstanding short films.

Born to Dance This Way follows Joo-Si (pronounced Juicy), an overweight dancer as he defies the odds and becomes the fourth member of an all-girl band.  This short film was on the program of SF Indiefest and had one of the best trailers.  Russell Argenal delivers an over-the-top performance in a hilarious short film.

Shaya is a Pakistani boy who immigrates to Los Angeles.  He discovers he has left one war zone for another as he, his mother and younger sister encounter culture shock, gangbangas & immigrants who still hold a grudge from the old country.

There three other short films which were quite good in the Wrench program.

Down - racial stereotypes of blacks and Asians are confirmed and refuted.

Footsteps - a simple minded North Korean peasant boy become a tragic pawn between the two countries when he ventures into the DMZ.

Little Mao - a ball to the head of Little Leaguer inspires him to apply Chairman Mao's principles to the baseball diamond.

Joan Chen's Shanghai Strangers preceded Beijing Flickers and seemed to be her love letter to her native Shanghai.  Some of the exterior shots of the Shanghai skyline and the old parts of the city were spectacular.  I wonder if they were stock footage?  The film tells two stories - a Chinese woman admitting to a marital affair to a complete stranger (and foreigner) at that and a flashback to the actual affair.  It was a well made film.  Chen took questions form the Great Star stage after both films had screened.  She looked fantastic.  I wish she would make more films (as an actress or director) in the US.  My impartiality may be questioned.  I have to admit that I had a huge Joan Chen crush when The Last Emperor came out in 1987 so she reminds me of my youth.

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I wasn't a huge fan of Nice Girls Crew at last year's festival so I wasn't sure about Nice Girls Crew 2.  For the uninitated, NGC follows three "frenemies" who form a book club - Sophie (Lynn Chen), Geraldine (Michelle Krusiec) & Lina (Sheetal Sheth).  NGC consisted of five 10 minute episodes as does NGC2.  The book club plot device is dispensed with and the girls engage in more slapstick comedy in NGC2 as opposed to one-line zingers in NGC.  Although moderately amusing, I thought the actresses' talents were largely wasted.  Considering I chose this screening over Luc Besson's The Professional, I was doubly disappointed.

Xmas Without China was a documentary about the Jones family who accept the challenge of trying to not use or buy any products made in China during the month leading up to Christmas.  It's a contrived but intriguing idea.  Not only is the Caucasian Jones family documented but the Chinese family of the filmmaker also receives considerable screen time.  Co-director Tom Xia's family and his own ambivalence about his Chinese citizenship distracted from the more Spurlockesque aspects of the film.

I did not enjoy any of the other 2013 CAAMFest films I have not previously mentioned in this post.  Given the relentless pace and size of the blog entries so far this month, I see no reason to document the reasons why I didn't like them.

Don't Stop Believin'

I went to the New Parkway for the first time in 2013 on Saturday to see Don't Stop Believin'.

Don't Stop Believin':  Everyman's Journey; directed by Ramona S. Diaz; documentary; English & Tagalog with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website

I walked from the 19th St. BART station to the New Parkway in less than 10 minutes.  It wasn't a bad walk although downtown Oakland streets were awfully deserted for 4:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon.  I wouldn't want to walk that route late at night.

Once at the theater, I ordered a $9 hamburger which was bland and unmemorable despite the beef being advertised as Niman Ranch.  I'm still not sold on the food at the New Parkway.

The film started 10 to 15 minutes after the posted 5 PM start time.  Thankfully, there were no PSAs or previews.  I can't recall if I was in Theater 1 or 2 but it was the theater with restaurant style seating on the main floor.  Wanting to eat my hamburger at a table instead of in a chair, I sat downstairs with one other person.  The rest of the audience sat in balcony area.  I'm not sure how many people were up there.  Having seen The Perks of Being a Wallflower in the balcony of that theater, I think I prefer sitting on the ground level.

I have been to restaurants, hotels and banquet halls where they put ice in the urinals.  There are many theories regarding the specific benefits of putting ice cubes in the urinals.  The New Parkway is the only establishment I can recall visiting which puts citrus fruit in the urinals.  On Saturday evening, they had sliced lemons in the urinals.  Since there were multiple slices in both urinals, I can only assume management has instructed the janitorial staff to put the lemons there.

Don't Stop Believin':  Everyman's Journey was the opening night film at the 2012 San Francisco  Asian American Film Festival but I opted to go to Cinequest that evening.  During the 2013 San Francisco Asian American Film Festival (renamed CAAMFest), Don't Stop Believin' was playing at the Sundance Kabuki, but I chose not to see it (more on that in a future post).  I was happy that the New Parkway booked Don't Stop Believin' for at least a week.

Don't Stop Believin' follows Arnel Pineda, a Filipino singer in a cover band who is plucked from obscurity and relative poverty to be the lead singer of Journey.  Reportedly selected by Journey guitarist and founder Neal Schon after viewing YouTube videos of Pineda singing Journey songs, Pineda sounds a lot like Steve Perry. A sampling of Pineda's YouTube videos indicate he is very good at mimicking the voice famous singers on several cover songs. This skill comes in handy for a band like Journey whose legions of fans expect the classic songs to be sung like Steve Perry used to sing them.

Pineda is a congenial and gracious man as he confronts mild racism and the impossible expectations of fans who prefer Steve Perry to him.  This isn't really dealt with very much.  Similarly, I would have expected him to have tremendous cultural and socioeconomic shock as he lives in the rarified air of rock-n-rock legends.  This isn't dealt with at all.  Pineda seems to hit the ground running.  Most of the film is spent documenting the minutiae of life on the road of a rock and roll band.  Arnel caring for his vocal cords, Arnel meeting VIP fans backstage, Arnel doing vocal exercises, Arnel interacting with the stagehands and roadies, etc.  Frankly, got to be a bit boring.

I would have liked to have seen some of the difficulties which the movie hints Arnel has sidestepped. Throughout the film, Arnel is alluded to as a Filipino role-model and icon akin to Manny Pacquiáo.  In one segment, Arnel meets the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  I cannot believe the man has not been changed by the experience but the film doesn't address that aspect of his life story.

Instead, the film approaches hagiography.  A few references to sex, drugs & rock-n-roll from Arnel's youth are briefly mentioned but Arnel states he won't risk his marriage today.  Don't Stop Believin' is a sugary concoction which could used a little more flavoring.  Regardless of what I think of the film, Pineda's singing is incredible...even more so considering he did not formal training.  His success transcends the film's attempt to capture it.  His story is incredible by any measure but I just didn't the film gave an accurate portrait of the man.